Day 13: Fun Day?!!? Tropical Storm Chantal

Well we woke up early to the alert system for tropical storm Chantal that was spinning in the Atlantic.  That being said when I peeked through the window early in the morning and noticed that there was  blue skies, white clouds and the sun was shining.  That being said, all the leaders got on their computers to monitor the progress and the expected landfall for the storm was going to be later today.  

After find that information we got ready to eat breakfast and once the program manager arrived she told us that we would continue with today’s schedule until there was an immediate threat and we couldn’t  fulfill the activities scheduled.  So the first thing we did was get our trunks and athletic clothes because we were going on our field trip to Angela’s Ranch.  What I found interesting as we traveled to the Ranch was that the sky totally changed color and turned grey and as we approached to the ranch we also noticed that it started to sprinkle, but that did not damper our day since it was our FUN DAY! We spent 5 hours at Angela’s Ranch and we all had a blast.  There was a pool, a clubhouse with a pool table, dominoes, and cards.  There was also a cover patio that looked like a hut…it was really nice of Angela the owner of the Hotel to invite us to her ranch free of charge.  She even provided lunch for us, which was yummy and very thoughtful of her.

We left Angela’s Ranch at 2 PM and make our trip back to the hotel.  We had some free time and a group of students went out to get stuff with James…too bad while they were out it started to rain quite a bit and once they made it back to the hotel they were wet.  We had a pretty lengthy downtime due to the in climate weather being that tropical storm Chantal was approaching so the rest of the day had to be modified.  We had our CAP seminar at 4:30 PM, met with the leaders of the organization that we are partnering with and had a share of ideas as to how each group can help the community.  Walking around and watching and hearing what they were doing was amazing.

As the seminar continued, the GG leaders had to literally revamp tomorrow’s day…unfortunately we cannot complete our second reality challenge # 2 of working like a local.  We were supposed to go to the local market and help defeathering dead chickens and prep them for sale, but because of the weather and the health and safety of our students, this isn’t happening.  Instead, we had to brainstorm and write up an entire new schedule for Thursday…even though it was crunch time we were able to pull it off, awesome way to use team work! After the seminar was over we headed in the heavy rain to eat dinner.  Yup, you guessed it we had our raingear and all but still got very wet as we make our trek to the restaurant.  What made the trek worth it was the food…we had beef for a change and potato salad with eggplant and rice with beans and meat…can one say, “yum!”  

After dinner we made our way back to the hotel, and yes it was still raining, but not as hard the kids were acting up going bonkers and having fun in the rain.  We warned them about getting to rowdy and getting hurt because of the slick concrete.  Do you think they listen?!?!? No, so you can guess what happened…one of our students slipped and hit his head.  We are monitoring his progress and I am sure he will be fine.  Upon entering the hotel we were remembered that we had a nightly meeting and since it was raining we had to change the location to the 3^rd floor restaurant instead of the 4^th floor balcony.  It was an interesting nightly meeting with some of the same old antics of some of the students, but for the most part everyone was in high spirits despite the rainy weather.

Once the nightly meeting was done, helped the student leader of the day write her blog and it was during this time that the heaviest rain came down, with strong winds.  From the looks of the tropical storm it looks like we will be “spared” per se and only get gusty winds and a lot of rain.  As for Haiti, that’s another story.

I’m tired but at the same time stoked that I will be going to bed before 11:00 PM which is a first for me this entire trip…YAHOO!

Day 12: Politics

We woke up with sunny skies still on alert with tropical storm Chantal still spinning out in the Atlantic.  We had our breakfast promptly at 8:00 AM and began our academic seminar on politics at 9:00 AM and then we had an amazing field trip where we were able to speak to the mayor of San Juan de la Maguana Hanoi Sanchez.  She totally gave us amazing insight into the Dominican Politics and she spoke about her personal goals and aspirations as to what drove her to run for public office.  She had this charisma and feisty yet kind attitude with a bit of spunk and pizzazz that made the 1.5 hour meeting with her just pass by.

After that we went to the Orlando Martinez museum here in San Juan.  Orlando Martinez was a reporter that was assassinated because of what he was publishing in the paper.  He was a strong advocate for the rights of the campesinos and rural people, but also questioned some of the actions of the politicians of his time.  It was a small but quaint museum with a lot of history displayed…the murals and pieces of art that pay homage to the report were interesting to look at as well.  From there we walked to the call center where the students were able to finally call home for the first time since we got here.  It was a mix bag, because some students were able to get a hold of someone, and some were not.  Some kids even started to breakdown in tears, because they were homesick.  As a leader, it was a tough to see some of these kids in that situation, but nothing a bit of candy and just giving them some space and letting them know you are here can’t fix.  By the end of lunch time they were back to their old selves.

After lunch we made it to the hotel only to get an update on the tropical storm that was in the Atlantic.  Some reports saying that it will turn into a hurricane as it passes through the DR and Haiti.  We have taken precaution and have a plan in place if it does make landfall.  We had our CAP # 2 meeting, for our culminating service project and broke into our two groups that will be helping the organization that we have partnered with.  After the seminar, we had English class prep class for our regular English class. 

While we were at English class the skies turned color to a darker grey and it started to down pour…but after 10 minutes it lit up.  By the time class had ended it was just overcast and a bit muggy.  Dinner was interesting…I was the last one to get in line and they ended up running out of food…just my luck that is the second time this happens to me on this trip.   Are they implying that I’m fat and I should be eating less…haha.  Anyways, since I didn’t have any food along with Lucy our program managers, we got the special treatment we got chicken and couscous, while everyone else got queso frito and two scoops of plantains with garlic and potatoes.

After dinner we made it back to the hotel checking up on tropical storm Chantal and constructing a plan B for tomorrow if we can’t do what we have planned.  We had our nightly meeting which went pretty well and had our self reflection.  Believe it or not the student leader of the day finished her blog and I will FINALLY head back to my room before midnight…for the first time this trip YAHOO!!!! Yeah, I’m exhausted, the bug bites are killing me but it’s still a life changing experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything.   We are now done with 13 days of the program which means that we only have 8 days left in the Caribbean!

Hasta luego y buenas noches!

Day 11: Migration

It was the first night spend at the hotel and although I slept real well, I ended up getting more bug bites.  Must have been the Benadryl I took, which alleviated the pain and the itch, but once I woke up this morning and my right arm was hecka itching and I realized that I have many bites by my elbow and forearm…great.  Breakfast was a light one, but we were thinking that it was because we are going to have a heavy lunch…but that’s a speculation.  After breakfast we had our academic seminar lead by Gloria on Migration, where the students participated in a simulation of a Haitian boy who had a monumental decision to make.

We then boarded the guagua and made our way to Elias Piña where we met with volunteers of RJFS and made our way to the Haiti/Dominican Republic border.  We drove to the immigration service center and we saw many police patrolling the border but they were pretty lax.  Why? Because on Mondays and Fridays the border is open for Haitians to cross so that they can sell products at the Binational Market.  As we waited in the guagua for everything to be in check we also had a pit stop before we would make or trek crossing the border.  As we got ready to cross the first border it wasn’t what I was expecting.  Literally the border between the Dominican Republic and “no man’s land” was literally metal barricades that were painted yellow and read, “Pare Cesparte.”  As we crossed that border we definitely saw the change…it looked dirty, dilapidated and it was pretty worn down…people selling their merchandise and vehicles going back and forth.  As we continued to walk further into “no man’s land” it started clearing out a bit and you could see the amazing scenery and landscape and stopped underneath a large tree, where Abraham from the RJFS spoke to us and gave a history lesson.  He told us that “no man’s land” does not belong to either the DR nor Haiti, but it is surrounded on the north, and east by the DR and south and west by Haiti.  He mentioned the name of the city but I don’t remember it.

He then asked us if we wanted to go to the other end of “no man’s land” to the Haitian border.  I of course was dying to go and hoped that the delegation would say yes!.  After some talking it was decided that we would go to see it.  As I mentioned before, as we walked deeper, and deeper into “no man’s land” you could see the writing on the walls change from Spanish to Creole…which to me looked like French.  As we approached the border again it was not what I expected.  It literally was two metal posts linked by a chain with Haitian Police patrolling it.  I was dying to cross it and step foot in the country but wasn’t keep my hopes up.  But having Abraham from the RJFS helped a lot we literally walked around the chain and walked to the customs/immigration booth where Abraham, tried communicating with the guards.  As luck would have it, as we walked around the chain and into the building, or should I say stand outside the building since we all didn’t fit…we all realized that we were on the opposite side of the border…WE WERE IN HAITI!  We spoke to the police asked questions we stayed a pretty decent 15-20 minutes there and I took pictures! Yeah, I can say that I have seen the entire island of HISPANOLA…haha!

As we walked back and crossed the Haitian border we again walked through no man’s land we were walking away from a calm serene part to the crowded, dirty and boisterous part with the goal of crossing into the DR without any problems.  As we made our way, we literally looked like a blob of people of course “norteamericanos” since we don’t look like a group of Haitians nor Dominican’s we crossed through theyellow “Pare Cesparte” door and just like that—we were back in the DR.  After our nice trek of border crossing we boarded the guagua and made our way to the Binational Market.  The Binational Market, is the market where Haitians sell merchandise to the Dominican’s and vice versa.  As we walked through the market it totally reminded me of the “Flea Market” back home, except more crowded and the nuisance of motorcycles weaving through.  Our RJFS volunteers and tour guides spent a good 20 minutes in the market, before we walked to a nearby comedor to eat lunch.  

During lunch it was nice to mingle with the volunteers of the RJFS and getting their perspective and for how long they have lived in the city of Elias Piña.  As lunch began and people started to line up…of course me being the gentleman was the last one to get in line.  But as my luck would have it there was barely any food left by the time I got there…no moros nor salad and vegetables for me.  The owner saw this and got me a special plate with white rice, albichuela, and beef with chicken.  It literally was really nice of her to do that. 

After lunch, we made the 1.5 guagua ride back to San Juan de la Maguana.  Since we didn’t have Danny Boy our helper I ended up sitting in his seat…sounds cool right?!?! Guess again, every time we had an official checkpoint by the police, I had to open the door so they could look in the guagua to make sure that we weren’t transporting any Haitians into the country.  We totally made it sooner than the allotted time which was nice because it gave us some down time at the hotel where I had the leadership meeting and was able to catch up the news and weather.  I logged onto Face and had several notifications and messages about Tropical Storm Chantal and noticed that we are in its path with a projected landfall in the DR Thursday morning…interesting real interesting the thought of being in the Caribbean when a tropical storm and or hurricane hits is a bit unsettling not going to lie.

As we finished our free time at the hotel and got ready to go to teach our English class we all got our stuff and walked to the school…unfortunately as I made it to the school I realized that I had forgotten the bag of supplies and headed back to the hotel, luckily it was only 3 blocks away, much closer than the prior hotel that we were staying at.  As I sit hear watching the students teach their English classes I can see that the sky is getting darker and clouds are sure rolling in fast.  I set in a desk under the metal eve and noticed that the thunder is getting louder and louder and the lightning is getting brighter and brighter.  As I am typing this sentence, it is pouring and I mean pouring heavily out here…and yeah I am still under the metal eve just waiting to see if it lightens up before we have to trek to the restaurant to eat dinner.  Time to stop typing and see if this rain dies down because if not…I will totally be drenched by the time I eat lunch…will keep you posted.  Btw, it’s officially 7:38 PM as I finish this part of the blog.

The torrential down pour eventually lit up before we had to make our way to dinner so it was nice not walking and getting drenched…we were also so hungry and exhausted because of today’s activities that we could eat a horse.  We were treated to some surprises at dinner…we were given an appetizer which ended up being popcorn and we got soda, Coca Cola to be exact.  Our main entrée though was a hot dog…interesting to see how the Dominican’s prep their dog…LOL! If you’re wondering it’s ketchup, cabbage, mayo and what looks like nacho cheese.  

After dinner we walked to the hotel where we had our nightly meeting…I was so tired because of the Benadryl and a annoyed with the kids on their behavior that the other teacher had to remind them to get back on track and get to business.  When it was all done with, I had to help the student leader of the day write the blog to Global Glimpse website.  Finally done and will hopefully get some well deserved SLEEP! 

Buenas Noches

Day 10: CAP # 1

So today marks half way for our trip...time sure is flying by very quickly.  Another milestone for today is that it’s our moving day to our home hotel.  For the past week we’ve been housed in a temporary hotel, so of course everything in the morning was pretty intense…conduct our English prep seminar, pack our bags and clean our common areas to make sure everything got packed so that we can transfer everything to our home hotel.  The time frame for all this after we had breakfast was 2 hours.  It indeed was hectic, but with everyone’s help we were able to complete the task at hand and load the truck with all our luggage to take us to our home hotel which was only 2 blocks away.  Something to mention is that during this transition time we were down 2 students and one GG leader since they went to the local clinic because they were still ill.

Once the luggage was in the truck, we made our walk to the Hotel D’Angel.  This hotel looked way nicer than the hotel that we were staying at prior it was completely on a different playing field.  We got our welcoming from Angela and had a talk about logistics and the norms of the hotel.  After that brief talk we then got our rooms assigned.  I was just laughing when my name got called because of a couple of things: one, it was the same room number that I got in the prior hotel and two I was again assigned to be the GG leader on the girls floor…so much nicer…LOL!  As we were getting ourselves situation, the other 2 students and James came from the clinic and we were told that the 2 students had an infection…which totally sucks!

  

As I made my way up to my room lugging my suitcase up the long, long flight of stairs I was amused at how close it was to the stairwell which made it easier for me to carry my luggage…haha.  I liked how they put welcome signs on our doors and reminded me like if I was back at my dorm from college.  But once you opened it it was really nice with a spacious bathroom and a decent size living area…I even have a balcony that looks out to the main street which is nice.  Once we got settled to our rooms we had our first CAP (community action project) meeting where we learned about the the 3 d’s, design, discovery, delivery, also during this time we had to remind the students about the rules and certain standards that we have for their own safety, which wasn’t too fun.  Because two of our student s are sick it was my turn to stay with them at the hotel while everyone else went to go visit the community that partnered with us to work with. 

While the students were out for 3 hours I was at the hotel taking care of the students that were sick,  during this time while I was sitting down stairs on the first floor where I got bitten quite a bit from ants, which I didn’t realize until after the fact.  Once the rest of the delegation got back we had 40 minutes to get ready for dinner  and made our trek to the restaurant.  Dinner was entertaining, none the least, loving my table group, keeping it fresh and lively all the time.

After dinner we came back to Hotel D’Angel for our first nightly meeting where we wrapped up early since we have to get up early since we will be going on a field trip to the DR/Haiti border.

Hasta luego!

Day 9: Free Day # 1

So today Saturday was our first Free Day for our delegation.  We were able to get a later start than usual waking up at 8 AM and we had breakfast at 9 AM.   The interesting fact about today is that both are DR leads had the day off, so it was just the 2 GG leaders ready to hold down the fort with 18 juniors.  Our first field trip of the day was to the supermarket, of course.  All the students wanted to buy snacks and whatnot to keep in their hostel rooms.  I too, was craving some stuff and bought quite a bit, for what I paid for less than $15.00, it was totally worth it.  We then went back to city hall where we were given Merengue dance lessons from Don Cristian it totally appeared that the students were having a blast.  I had fun watching some of them struggle, but also watching them dance like pros.  After our one hour dance lesson it was evident that the students did not want to go, but we had to get ready to drop off our food items and head to lunch at our normal restaurant.

As we walked to the restaurant we chatted about how much fun the dance classes were that at their next off day they were willing to take dance lessons and learn how to dance Bachata.  We had a nice pleasant lunch and we brainstormed and got the logistics down as to what we were going to do the rest of the day.  After we got the logistics down we walked back to the hostel to take a break before we split into two groups.  One group ended up going to a little league baseball game here in the DR, while the other group walked around the city and made numerous stops.  As luck would have it I lead the group that had the numerous stops along the way.  I had to manage 12 students and before we left we had a battle plan: find kettle, eat ice cream, go to pollo rey, go to the plaza, go to the bakery and find a pizza joint.  Yeah, we had a laundry list of things to do and we only had 3 hours to do it…LOL! At the end of our excursion we were able to complete everyone’s wish…it seriously was a nice time to talk to more of the students on a smaller scale since most of them are not from Andrew Hill, so I got to know a little bit more about them.

After we made it to the hotel I had a 10 minute downtime before we had to get ready to go to dinner.  During that brief break I ended up playing a couple of games of speed which totally brought back memories of my middle school and high school days.  As time ticked away and 6:30 was getting near you could hear the students rushing to make it to the common area before we headed out.  As we did our head count and head out the door towards the restaurant it started to sprinkle and in turn made us walk faster to get to our destination.  By the time we got there we were about 5 minutes early for our 7PM dinner, only to realize that the owners told us upon our arrival that we were 35 minutes early, since they had the dinner was going to be at 7:30 PM.  So in return we stayed there and played games…I even got to teach a couple of the students and the other teacher “Burro emparejas,” we were able to play four games and I only ended up losing 1.  The 30 minutes flew by because shortly thereafter we were able to get in line for dinner and were on our way, 45 minutes later back to the hostel for our nightly meeting.  

The nightly meeting went as usual but after the nightly meeting we had a couple of kids complain to us about their health.  Two in particular have had prolong fevers so we called the ISOS and they suggested that we continue our regimen of Tylenol/ibu, but that it continues that we had to take them to a clinic for further evaluation.  To make this whole thing even more suspenseful the cell phone that was given to us, ran out of minutes while we were on the phone and had to use a students phone to make the call…we were thankful, but at the same time a bit peeved that he was making phone calls which requires internet access which the students were not to have access to. 

Oh well…live and learn.  Hope things go better for us.